Resident Evil's Next Movie May Be Its Last; Tentatively Titled The Final Chapter

Writing has begun on the sixth entry in the Resident Evil film series, but as its tentative title–Resident Evil: The Final Chapter–suggests, it might turn out to be the last, according to writer and director Paul W.S. Anderson.

Speaking with Collider, Anderson revealed that The Final Chapter is the title he’s currently using as he writes the upcoming film’s script. The title has not yet been finalized but could end up being used, as he said, “It may be the final title, but that’s what’s written on the front page of my script.” Asked whether he’s writing this with the intention of making it the series’ final film, he said, “That’s what’s on the title page, it’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, so absolutely.”

Of course, as with video games, the movie industry is hesitant to let a franchise die when it’s still making money. And the Resident Evil movies, whatever the consensus might be on their quality or merit, have made money: The most recent film, 2012’s Retribution, grossed $240 million worldwide, the bulk of which was made overseas. Its predecessor, Afterlife, grossed nearly $300 million, but even with the decline, Retribution was still a moneymaker.

Anderson seems to be aware that continued success could derail plans for this movie to end the series. Referencing the Highlander movies, he said with a laugh, “As Christopher Lambert famously said, ‘There can be only one.’ And then there were five of them.”

Although 3D may not be as popular as it once was, Anderson indicated earlier this year that the next Resident Evil movie would be available in 3D. In the interview with Collider, he talked about how it’s important to begin considering 3D even in the writing stages. “You cannot make a great 3D movie by just–it’s not some special sauce that you can sprinkle on,” he said. “You make the dish and then you make hot sauce on top–it doesn’t work well like that.”

“I approach my films right from the inception, I kind of write action scenes and pick out locations that I think and know–because I’ve done so much of it–will translate very well into 3D,” he said. “Then when we build the sets, we build sets that I know will shoot well in 3D. It’s really, even from this point, 3D is something I’m definitely thinking about. And I think it’s one of the things that people really appreciate about the movies that I’m involved with. Even if you don’t like any other aspect of them, I think the one thing that most people do agree on is the 3D looks fantastic and that’s really good news.”

Anderson went on to say that he has been approached to work on movies based on other video game series, but he’s been hesitant to do so. “I have been offered other video games themselves,” he said. “I think because I’m probably so associated with Resident Evil, I think there’s probably a reluctance to make another video game movie and I will also kind of feel that reluctance as well. That’s the video game franchise I’m associated with right now and that’s really what I want to do and put all of my energy into.

“And I’m very happy with the way I’ve managed to alternate between doing video game-based movie and then a historical-based movie or a piece of literature. I wouldn’t want to do video game movie after video game movie.”

As for the Resident Evil video games themselves, Resident Evil 7 is reportedly in the works, although Capcom has yet to make any official announcements.

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